Deaths Of 2 Navy SEALS Killed In Somalia Sea Op “Preventable”, Probe Finds

The deaths of two US Navy SEALs during an earlier this year mission to collect Iranian weapons intended for Yemen’s Houthi rebels were “preventable,” according to a review into the incident. During the mission, in which special forces boarded a vessel off the coast of Somalia in January, one SEAL tripped and fell into the ocean, while another jumped in to assist him.

“Encumbered by the weight of each individual’s gear, neither their physical capability nor emergency supplemental flotation devices, if activated, were sufficient to keep them at the surface,” according to the Navy investigation, which stated the incident was “marked by systematic issues” and “preventable.”

It discovered that the SEALs were “not well-practised in using their emergency gear,” with some operators claiming they had only used their flotation systems once and others not at all. The maintenance of the equipment also did not match Navy requirements, with the inquiry stating that the SEALs “attempted to activate their emergency devices, yet they somehow failed to activate.” It was highlighted that the SEALs had not undertaken buoyancy tests in theatre, where conditions were different from those used during training, and that there was inconsistent guidance on buoyancy standards.

The US Navy searched for the two SEALs for 10 days before declaring them dead. Since November 2023, Yemen’s Houthis have launched attacks on vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The United States has carried out frequent air strikes on the Houthis in a bid to degrade their ability to target shipping and has also sought to seize weapons before they reach the rebels, but their attacks have persisted.